SURPRISE!!! There’s a new Catrike on the road! (Pun fully intended) When Catrike introduced their first full-suspension trike, they teased us incessantly. The trike was first shown to the public nearly a year before it actually hit the market. With their second full-suspension (FS) trike, they’ve taken the opposite path. The trike you see here in this review, the Catrike Road AR, is debuting later today at the Seattle Bike Show and can be ordered by your dealer right now.

The Road is one of Catrike’s longest-running model names. It’s gone through several iterations. Before Catrike was really a household name, it was a fairly conventional tadpole trike typical of the early 2000’s. The only difference was that it was made of aluminum. Then it became one of the company’s first trikes to use it’s now-iconic spaceframe. In 2012, the Road became Catrike’s first trike with rear suspension. Now, for 2017 it’s been updated with full suspension and a slightly new character. Read More »

AZUB Recumbents out of the Czech Republic has undoubtably become a major player in the recumbent trike market over the last few years. Their slick folding mechanism, highly adjustable fit system, excellent handling and overall fit and finish have earned them a lot of fans. However, there was always one thing that AZUB never offered that many other trike manufacturers have been selling lots of for years. Full suspension. Customers asked them when they’d see a full suspension AZUB and they were coy. When I asked, all I was told was, “We’re working on something really cool and want to get it right.”

And take their time, they did. AZUB spent over three and a half years developing their new baby. This “really cool” trike is finally upon us in the form of the radical new AZUB Ti-FLY. Now that it’s out, I can admit that I did see some photos of it on an AZUB employee’s phone at Recumbent Cycle-Con last year. My immediate response was, “Holy crap!” (I probably didn’t say crap.) Now that I’ve put a couple hundred miles on one, my response is exactly the same. Read More »

Yesterday, I was riding a carbon fiber highracer. Today, I rode the complete opposite. The new-for-2015 Scorpion plus 26 from HPVelotechnik is a BEAST… And I mean that in the best possible way. Some parts are shared with the German company’s Scorpion fs 26, but the plus 26 is taller, easier to get in and out of and can carry four panniers. Our test trike came complete with full racks, fenders and dynamo lighting. Full review coming soon.

My first experience with Steintrikes came in 2004 when I reviewed the Viper. That trike, like most of the Serbian company’s designs at the time, was designed to be simple and inexpensive. It worked well enough, but wasn’t particularly memorable. For a few years, I almost forgot that the company existed. Then, over the next few years, they switched their focus away from trying to be Europe’s budget brand and began to produce some of the wildest and most memorable full suspension trikes in the world. Their designs transformed from utilitarian and somewhat boring to sophisticated and maniacal. It’s as if they came unhinged and decided to stop trying to build trikes that were meant for the widest possible audience and instead build what they wanted to build. A prime example of this philosophy is the 26″ rear wheel Explorer model that I’ll be reviewing here.

Part of the reason that this test is coming now is that Steintrikes hasn’t just been making waves with their radical designs. They’ve also begun to build a US dealer network for 2013. Pretty soon, these once-rare birds won’t be nearly so rare anymore. We got our Explorer from one of the first of this new dealer network. Read More »